8.25 ID tag question & cover removal question

8.25 question:
I have an 8.25 in the rear of my 99(it was on the build sheet & I've also visually identified it by the "lip" that it has and by looking at the pictures on Yucca Man's site). There seem to be 3 tags on it but the only one that isn't corroded too much to read says "35". What does this code mean?? I researched on usenet and saw that Dana 35s were labled with a "35", but I know this is an 8.25 for sure. Anyone know?

cover removal question:
I set out to change the fluid in my front differential today and got as far as taking all of the bolts out (except 2 at the top). THEN, I just couldn't get the cover to budge for anything! I tried a rubber mallet, and also tried tapping a putty knife into the seam as well as a large flathead screwdriver. I was being VERY careful though as I've never done this before and was afraid of bending the cover or gouging the axle itself. Anyone have a tip on a way to easily remove the cover? Could I have been more violent with screwdriver? I know this is probably sounding stupid, but since I've never done it before I didn't want to "horse" it and end up with a huge problem.

The tag probably means 3.55 gears, which is what you have. And you have 29-spline axles.

Just use a little more force to get the cover off. A screwdriver works well.

just did this last nite with my 8.25. just pry a little more on the bottom of the diff. cover. make sure you leave a bolt or two in the top or gear oil will be everywhere. just loosen the top two bolts about 1/2 way and then pry at the bottom. should be good. mine took 4 pints to fill. should have been 5 pints according to the manual, but thats all that would go for now. i'll check again after a couple days.

whosyourdaddy? said:

mine took 4 pints to fill. should have been 5 pints according to the manual, but thats all that would go for now. i'll check again after a couple days.

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Do you have stock suspension? or modified? shackles and shims and such will change the angle and move the fill hole so that you will not be able to put all the oil in. IIRC I was able to fill mine up to spec till I started to mess with it.

Thanks for the replies Yeah, I guess I'll just have to put the smack down on the cover so to speak. It's my DD so whenever I'm doing work on it I'm always on a schedule...I just started to run out of time when I was doing it and put the bolts back in. Hopefully I'll be getting to it again in the next day or two.

I was curious about the tag also since I'm not sure if it has a LS or not. There are 2 other tags on the rear, but they were so corroded they were not readable(didn't take them off and clean them though so maybe...). what is the identifying tag on an 8.25 with a LS by the way? Thanks again!

search and you'll find exactly what you need. there are tons of posts about jacking up the rear with the trans in nuetral. rotate one wheel and if you have trak-lok the other wheel should spin the same rotation if you have trak-lok.

whosyourdaddy? said:

search and you'll find exactly what you need. there are tons of posts about jacking up the rear with the trans in nuetral. rotate one wheel and if you have trak-lok the other wheel should spin the same rotation if you have trak-lok.

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Thanks for the tip Yeah, I've read that about jacking it up...but I've also seen that if the clutches are worn out that it may not be a positive way to ID a LS or not. So I was just curious of what the ID tag would say if it happened to be LS. Thanks guys!

If you know anything about rears you will recognize the LSD if it has one. There will be alot more 'stuff' in there besides two wimpy spiders and a carrier . Just do a search on any of the online stores, they will have picutures of the various lockers and lsd's..... Also if you do the front just compare the two, almost 100% guaranteed that theres no traction device in the front....